The Loner Club
by Passaris
Summary: Houtarou Oreki has just entered highschool. Bored out of his mind and by mandatory regulation, he joins the school's Service Club. There, he finds one other member: a loner boy named Hachiman Hikigaya, who, similar to himself, doesn't talk much but has his share of withheld thoughts and secrets. What could go wrong when the two are suddenly forced with dealing with one another?
1. The Transfer Student

**Chapter 1 - The Transfer Student**

* * *

 _In the short beginnings of our lives we call youth, you can either choose to live a grey colored life, or a rose colored life. Those who wish to secure a successful future by cutting themselves off from social contact in school live grey colored lives; they never get to experience the beauty of youth that many adults wish they could relive. Those who socialize and put a lot of effort into their everyday looks and demeanor live rose colored lives; they get to experience youth to the fullest, but regret it when they become adults with little experience in the real, harsh world. There really is no option where you won't regret something you've done. The dilemma that every human faces when they enter school is to choose what kind of regrets they want in the future. And either way, you will suffer at some point in your life. It seems that the many rose colored lives going on around me are short sighted enough to not see the outcome of their colored lives that will certainly fade into grey with the coming years._

* * *

 _ **April, 2000**_

"Class, today we have a new transfer student. Please, introduce yourself."

A tall, slightly slouching boy entered classroom 1B of Sobu High School. Unkept taupe-brown hair draped over his face, reaching just below his eyes. Bangs of twisty hair was swept away, letting his asparagus colored drowsy green eyes peer into the silent, curious classroom. A slight frown was worn upon his face, not out of disgust or anger, but simply out of pure boredom. It looked like he hadn't gotten good sleep for days. His demeanor didn't seem very social or extroverted, rather a quiet, calm boy that keeps to himself. Reminds me of a certain someone that I know very well.

"Hello. My name is Houtarou Oreki. Pleasure to meet you all." His monotone voice barely made an echo in the spacious, dead silent classroom, and didn't wait for the teacher's permission to take a seat. His facial expression had remained completely unchanged during his introduction. _Hm, even a little rude_. The only empty seat in the class was right beside me, as cliche as could be. To be honest though, I didn't mind as much as I usually would have, considering the attitude he's worn ever since entering the class. Quiet but unbalanced footsteps made their way towards me as I leaned my head up against my right hand, not looking at the boy but rather the wall to my right. The chair was noisily pulled from underneath the desk as Oreki took a seat, sliding his blue shoulder bag beside it. Immediately, he took up the exact same pose I did, balancing his head lazily up against his left palm and staring towards the front of the class. I averted my gaze from the boy as he took a look to his right where I was sitting. My ears began to feel hot as Oreki didn't look away from my direction. _What was with him? Did he suddenly take an interest in me after ten seconds of coming into the classroom?! That's a new record. Wait, that might be the only record_. Finally, in my large peripheral vision, he finally took his eyes off me and turned his head towards the window to his left. Then the teacher began to talk again. I let out a breath I didn't know I had held. The boy was certainly much different than any other transfer student I'd ever seen in this school. He wasn't enthusiastic and bright like Hayato Hayama, nor passionate or happy like Yui Yuigahama. And his presence in class was almost nonexistent, like there wasn't even a transfer student in the first place. A ghost just came into the class and took up the empty seat to the left of me. No student had their eyes on him after he took a seat, only catching the attention of some when he walked in.

"Please take out your English textbooks and turn to page 102." The teacher said. I displaced my odd interest in the boy and fished out the heavy, blue and white colored english textbook from my shoulder bag on the ground. Well, on with school again. It didn't seem like I would ever talk to Oreki personally over the course of the school year, which was fine by me. The interest I showed was only brief like anything else new, person or product. What was different with this than getting a new cellphone? I sighed, drowning out the sound of the old Sensei and closing my eyes, trapped in my thoughts.

The bell rang after what felt like five minutes later, signaling our lunch break. The teacher reminded us of our homework assignment, which I briefly noted in the empty notebook on my desk. Despite being lazy and not paying much attention to schoolwork, I wouldn't leave a homework assignment undone. I looked to my left, where Oreki was noting the homework assignment similarly to how I had done it in a neat, organized study notebook. _What the hell? Does he actually put effort into remembering his homework assignments?!_ That theory was immediately abolished by the fact that the notebook was labeled and organized by not him, but by a person who labeled their name on the front cover; "Tomoe Oreki". I cracked an imaginary smirk by that fact; How lazy could someone be that they would get a relative to label the cover and the inside of a study notebook to write homework in?

He packed away the notebook and pulled up a simple bread lunch, wrapped in plastic. It was clearly purchased off the school store. I removed a similar article from my own bag, however with different ingredients. The boy, taking notice of it, turned his head and talked to me.

"Nice lunch," he remarked in comparison with his own, before turning back to his meal and unpacking it slowly. I stopped halfway through tearing the plastic from the bread: _Did he just talk to me or am I imagining things?_ I slowly twisted my head in the direction of Oreki, who took a bite before returning eye contact. "Pleasure meeting you."

"Yeah..." I replied, pulling the bread out of the wrapper. Was that the part I was supposed to introduce myself?

* * *

By last period, I was nodding off in class. What an unlucky seat, being surrounded at all four sides. How was I supposed to pretend to be doing work when I'm surrounded by eyes at all angles? In middle school, I conveniently had the window seat by the back of the class. There, you have a view of the field and courtyard, and be able to pretend-write and nap whenever you wanted. Here, it's difficult when the teacher has direct view of you, being only four rows back in a six row class. I guess I had to put up with it until second semester. The final bell signaling the end of the day rang out, prompting the rise of all the students in class, who immediately began their own private conversations with one another in their energetic, hyped demeanors. What a waste of energy, expending the rest of what you have by the end of the day on petty conversation and human contact in "hang out" spots like Karaoke. The only person in class that didn't immediately indulge in these activities was the boy beside me; a quiet, somewhat awkward boy that always had his eyes away from other people in class. He had somewhat short black hair with an irritating cowlick poking up by his forehead, A set of gray eyes peered at the person in front of him, talking ecstatically to the girl beside her; somehow, they reminded me of dead fish eyes both in color and shape. He had a slight grimace that appeared to not be at fault of his facial features, rather an actual expression. Why would someone strain the muscles in their face just to pull off a grimace when it isn't even going to be seen by anyone or get a point across? Well, none of my business, really. I slid my math textbook into my bag on the floor, and packed up my pencil and eraser with it. I picked up my belongings inside the drawer and headed out the class.

The first day in my new High School was even more boring than I had previously anticipated. Nobody stood out particularly in terms of personality other than the boy to my right, who instead said nothing at all. Well who was I to complain? Everybody acted pretty much the same, all living rose colored lives. I rubbed the bangs on my forehead out of habit as I walked down the hall; being one of the only people in class who wasn't an extrovert wasn't going to pan out well in the long run, but then again, dealing with other people constantly was a hassle. It's not like I'm against socializing, so long as it's not tiring.

I passed a bulletin board on my way to the staircase at the left bend of the hallway. I eyed it lazily, glancing over the bold characters that titled the board "Club posters". Oh right, I need to join a club. In Sobu Highschool, it was mandatory to join at least one club each year during your three years of highshool. Since I was here, it would spare me the effort to come back this way another time since I had taken a wrong turn on my way to the shoe lockers. I stopped, eyeing over the board to see if anything caught my eye. Almost every poster was brilliantly colored to the point of over-saturation, at least in my eyes. A poster, in my opinion, shouldn't be something more interesting than what the poster itself provides. Half of the things splayed on the wall were for clubs like the Kitty club, or the Astronomy club, or other popular ones like the Manga club. But to be honest, none of them really caught my attention. The genuinely interesting clubs wouldn't be so over plastered with colors and images, they would be simple pieces of paper advertising their appeal and interests since they would be run by real people with a genuine passion for what they were based on. Genuine passion doesn't necessarily equate to more ink used in the printer.

I stood in front of the board for a good twenty seconds, scanning over the mess of colors and Kanji until I spotted a simple white piece of paper that was barely sticking out from underneath another larger poster covered with it's false glory. I lifted the corner of big poster, reading the messy handwriting in permanent marker that detailed the club on the piece of printer paper.

"Service Club: Helps people with their private/personal problems by offering advice or physical labor. In desperate need of members!"

That one simple passage was all that was written. To be honest, I'd rather join this one than any of the others listed on top of it, but the only part that turned me off was the mention of "physical labor". Hopefully that was a slip-up by the designer, as unlikely as it seemed. It was enough however to catch my attention, so after about two seconds of thinking, I decided I would join it for the heck of it. My sister, Tomoe, forcibly told me to join a club, so why not. After all, this was the only one here that didn't seem to involve much work other than giving people free, cheap fluffy advice.

I straightened my back, leaning back up from having hunched over to read the small slip of paper hidden under the horde of posters and turned towards the staircase. There, at the end of the hallway, was the back of the boy that sat to the right of me in class. He had his hands in his pockets and his bag slung over his shoulder, slouching from either the weight of the bag or habit _. I wonder what club he'll join._

* * *

 ** _Hello readers, I'm back with another story! This time, it's a crossover between Hyouka and Oregairu. If you haven't seen my other story, SAO: Void Hearts, go check it out! I'd greatly appreciate it! For now, I'm bringing you a whole different story and setting. This one will be much more character based rather than story based, so I hope you'll enjoy that._**

 ** _Please note that this series won't be as frequently updated as my main series, as my primary focus is SAO: VH. If you enjoy this story, I'd love it if you could drop a review, favorite, or a follow! But please be aware that updates will take place at a slower pace than usual. I greatly appreciate your support and patience, and I'll see you in the next chapter!_**


	2. An Unlikely Hero

**Chapter 2 - An Unlikely Hero**

* * *

 _There are those who enjoy their high school days are there are those who don't. Those who do are the foundation of the countless stories and memories of their brilliant youths, and those who didn't are lying whenever they talk about their past. If you openly admit your high school days were frustrating, lonely, and full of social pressure, you'd be a loser in people's eyes. The world is just unfair like that; tell people lies, and they'll like you. Tell people the truth, and you're considered an outcast. Funny how it's usually switched depending on the situation. What can we rely on if the definitions of words change depending on the people you're with? And why would we want to become someone that we know we aren't? If we can't even be honest with ourselves as full grown, mature adults, then there really is no hope for the reliability of the human race._

* * *

The first week of school passed like seconds on a clock. Each day was the same; I'd stare off into the distance with my head held up against my left hand for support, daydreaming about the things that popped into my head at any given time. Being far off into another world most of the time during class, I'd get called on commonly by the teacher, asking me if I knew the answer the question he had asked, or requesting me to read from a passage in our English book. Most of the time, I'd actually know what we were doing, since I'm always technically paying half attention to the class. But others, when I had gotten less sleep than usual, or was deep into a conversation with myself, I'd get called out. It had almost cost me lunch detention once, but I figured out new countermeasures to make sure I wouldn't get caught, like the "make eye contact with the teacher when they look in your direction" tactic, or the "ask random question at random point in the class to make sure it looks like you're paying attention" tactic. Both of them actually worked pretty well, considering I hadn't been caught off guard once since I started doing them. It wasn't before last period in class today before we were told to stay in our seats because of an announcement.

"Students, if you haven't yet signed up for a club, it is highly recommended that you do so today or tomorrow. As you all know, joining at least one extra-curricular club is mandatory in Sobu High. Failure to do so in one of of your three years may result in repercussions later on involving graduation." All the students in class except for myself lazily called out "yes sir", before he continued. "Okay, you're dismissed." In sync, every student in class stood up, getting ready to leave. I had completely forgotten to join a club, even though I actually told myself that I'd join one about a week ago. What was it called again? Serving Club? Surfing Club? No, it wasn't any of those. _Wait, surfing club? The hell am I talking about_? I rubbed the bangs on my forehead, giving it a bit more thought before I gave up. _It'll probably come back to me if I stop thinking about it._ I had even informed my sister, Tomoe, that I'd join a club like she requested I did. She was really passionate about me joining at least one club in school, even though I've already told her multiple times that it was mandatory to join one. But for the life of me I couldn't remember what the hell that club I wanted to join was called.

I stopped thinking about clubs for a second and stood up, getting ready to leave. On my way out, I noticed that black haired boy was still sitting in his seat again, not leaving like everyone else. He had done that for about a week now, being extra slow and taking his time when it was the end of the day. What was up with that? Didn't he want to get home? Although when I thought about it, I actually walked as slow as possible on my way home so I could 1. Conserve energy, and 2. Not have to do homework for at least another ten minutes. So I guess his tardiness on his way out of the class actually made sense, not that my own principals would apply to him. Maybe he didn't like crowds? _Nah, no way._ I yawned, stretching out before leaving the bustling classroom and out into the equally bustling hallways. Every now and then I'd bump into somebody out of fatigue, before mumbling "sorry" with a slight bow and continuing on. I was getting strange looks from people as I kept moving down the hallway towards the staircase, although I was far too lazy and indifferent to decipher what they meant. Before I could reach the end of the hall, I was stopped by someone leaning against the left wall.

"Hey, you."

I looked up at the boy. He had his arms crossed, and had unkempt blonde hair that spiked up in annoying spots. He sported a dark blue headband around his forehead, keeping his hair back and out of his eyes. His sleeves were drawn up to his elbows and his school uniform was unbuttoned. _Ooh, he has that stereotypical punk vibe going for him._ He wore a ticked off expression and had piercing ice blue eyes that stared daggers at me. What could this punk possibly want with me?

"...what?"

"You piss me off." _Wow, that was shockingly...expected._

"Care to explain why, Naruto?" His face grew into an annoyed sneer.

"The way you look like you don't care about anything, like you're the goddam king of the world. Ticks me off more than anything, a loser acting all high and mighty like a prince."

"Okay," I replied. I broke eye contact and looked at the clock on the wall, trying to look impatient. Maybe that wasn't so smart. When I looked back, the punk had gotten closer, and his face was contorted into an angry grimace. He grabbed the collar of my shirt, glaring swords into my eyes. _Come to think of it, this guy could possibly be one of my classmates._

"Oi," He said. "What did I just tell you?" I sighed in reply, before looking at our surroundings. It looked like we had caused quite the commotion; a few groups of people were gathered around us, leaving us in a cluttered circle. Most of them were whispering to each other, although I couldn't make out what they were saying. I could easily guess though.

"If you haven't noticed, I'm pretty busy right now. Can I ignore you some other time?" I said, looking back at the kid. The punk looked like he finally snapped after I said that, his eyes burning with rage.

"Shame those had to be your last words," he said as he cocked his fist back. I tried my best to maintain an completely bored expression. _Woah, is he planning on killing me or something? That's not gonna look good on his college application._

"Hey!" A voice came from behind me, interrupting the scuffle. I strained my neck to get a look at who it was, and to be honest, it was probably the last person I'd ever expect to interject on a fight. He was probably the embodiment of 'bystander' in my head, now that I think of it. It was the black haired boy with the grey, dead fish eyes, whatever his name is. Fish-boy. Yeah, lets go with that for now. "Are you really going to punch a lowlife like that and get yourself into more trouble than you're already in, Ryota?" _Who's the lowlife here?_

The boy, whose name is supposedly Ryota, snarls at him. He lets go of my collar and pushes me aside.

"Well, if it isn't Hikigaya." His angry grimace twisted into a sinister smirk at the sight of fish-boy. "And why am I in trouble, you say?" Fish-boy made an even more sinister smirk than the one Ryota wore, which sent shivers down my spine. I began to rethink his true motives.

"Did you forget?" Ryota's expression shifted slightly from amused to confused. "You had detention with Mr. Tanaka today. And you know what that means, don't you?" Ryota suddenly looked like he had an accident in his pants. I heard a very silent "shit" under his breath, before he turned tail on the crowd and myself and bolted down the stairs. Instead of feeling grateful that fish-man had saved me, I was bewildered. The mention of having detention with this Mr. Tanaka made him scared enough to completely give up on this lame fight and run for his life? It made me shiver at the prospect of even meeting the guy. _I suppose I should thank fishma– i mean Hikigaya for his ex-machina save there._

I turned and began walking towards Hikigaya, whose face looked more relieved than evil now. When he finally noticed me coming towards him, he looked away. The crowd began to break up into hushed whispers like it had been before, although the space in the middle was quickly absorbed by the mass.

"Yo," I said. Hikigaya scoffed, before looking in my direction.

"Don't thank me," he said, before he began to walk away.

"Uh, I wasn't planning on it." My sudden comment made him stop in his tracks. _Oh well, that was kind of a lie anyway_. He didn't say anything, he just had his back turned on me for a few seconds. "I just have a question." Hikigaya waited without reply. "Just who is this Mr. Tanaka guy?" I heard an audible chuckle before Hikigaya started walking away again.

"You'll see." The fact that he wouldn't just tell me made me even more suspicious of his personality. Oh well, I guess I'll just take his word for it. As I walked back down the hallway towards the stairs, I finally remembered the name of the club I was going to join.

"The Service Club."

* * *

 ** _Hello again readers! Sorry for the long break, but here's chapter 2 of The Loner Club finally! Again, there will be another break until the next chapter comes out, so sit tight until then. Remember to PM me if you have questions/comments, and please leave a review of what you thought! I love both negative and positive inputs, as long as they're somewhat constructive ;)_**


	3. The Stone Prince

**Chapter 3 - The Stone Prince**

* * *

I hate poetry. The stunted, nonsensical fragments of convoluted and overly figurative language seems like a purely attention grabbing scheme that self proclaimed poets have the right to call "art". But then again, there's a minuscule chance I may only be saying that because I'm dreadful at writing it, no less keeping my attention on it. Seems that when people aren't good at a particular thing, they automatically take a disliking for it, whether they choose to show it or not. In this case, I'm an example of the middle ground: I'll be glad to rant about it, but only if someone takes interest (which is impossible).

So, at the moment I sat in a chair in an empty, spacious room reading a book about poetry while having an internal rant about the very thing I was keeping myself entertained by. Seems like the typical behavior of an introverted, pessimistic teenager with so much edge that I could give my own soul a paper cut. As soon as I realized that at this very second, my life had about as much meaning as a scrap of landfill, I closed the book with the single hand holding it. I may as well be doing something productive rather than something which induced mental stress: sleep.

I folded my arms on the long table, placing my head in the center. Although I was tired, I couldn't bring myself to keep my eyes shut. School rules stated that any member of a club was required to fulfill their duties for at least forty-five minutes unless they had another event that held more priority. When I looked at the clock, it appeared that only twenty minutes had passed since the end of classes, which meant I needed to kill at least another twenty-five minutes before I could leave. Lucky that the club moderator had his hands full, or else I'd be forced to do some paperwork or something just to earn the right to say that I did something so I could go home. But if I was the only member, maybe it wouldn't be so bad. At least I wouldn't have to deal with anybody else, including annoying upperclassmen who seemed to particularly enjoy picking on the batch of freshmen this year for whatever reason. Maybe it was only the small group I observed in the hallway that decided to exhibit that kind of behavior, but at this point I couldn't care less if I was generalizing them. As long as they never found out through telepathy, I was safe to internally trash talk any group of upperclassmen that I wanted to.

My eyes once again met the irritably slow clock face, which had only appeared to have moved five minutes in the past hour. What a pain, having your life move in slow motion was a hassle. But then again, it had it's advantages as well, such as being able to enjoy your youth for more time, to relish the memories you'll retain for the rest of your life throughout adulthood. A strange and prolonged smile cracked on my face as I began to internally cackle at my own sarcasm, something only a person with zero social connection would ever dream of doing – The difference is that I'm not afraid to admit it.

Without any kind of warning, the door to the club room swung open, revealing a moderately tall boy in it's entrance. It took my mind about 1.4 seconds to comprehend that it was none other than Houtarou Oreki, the lazy, slouching boy that had absolutely zero presence in school but yet somehow still attracted the attention of witless "bullies". It appeared that he was sleepwalking, as it took him even longer to even notice there was anybody in the room. His head rotated ever so slowly as his green eyes scanned the room – it reminded me of a crappy security camera.

"Is this the Service Club?" His monotone voice once again made a much larger presence in a room than it was intended to.

"Yeah." I said, still moderately shocked from the sudden intrusion. I had instinctively focused my attention on something interesting the corner to avoid peering into the depths of his stoic soul.

The moderately tall yet slouching boy slowly lumbered over to a stray chair by the window and pulled it over the table with an annoyingly loud screech, relatively far away from where I was sitting. It was clearly not done on purpose, but it still felt shockingly personal for a guy who didn't give. The moment he took a seat, he leaned back and spaced out in a matter of three seconds. It was clearly a practiced ability. In fact, everything about this boy screamed "apathetic" and "lazy", yet at the same time those words didn't really match with his personality. They seemed more like words to generalize his personality rather than words that actually matched with the truth. Maybe I'm digging a little too much into this. For now, I'll just have to deal with the fact that I'm not the only member of this pointless club anymore, thus both reducing and raising the workload at the same time.

Even though I told myself that I shouldn't really care someone else had joined this club, which I had literally only joined because there was no one in it, I couldn't stop thinking about Oreki's motives. The prime reason would obviously be the fact that he was lazy and as such wanted to join a club that included minimal work for his mandatory selection, but from the description of the club it honestly seemed like it would be a decent amount of work with an equally decent amount of people in it, both things that would deter him. I had made more research beforehand, asking how many people were part of the club before actually signing up. The Club Coordinator even said that they were planning on discontinuing it because it was so unpopular. But there was no way Oreki could know about that, unless he also asked the Club Coordinator which seemed highly unlikely due to his apathetic nature. Maybe I'm underestimating him – Although he's broken a record for at least attempting to make the smallest presence in school as possible, he's still made fairly large ripples in the span of one week. There could be so much he was hiding, but if he was indeed hiding something, he would've shown the slightest amount of personality in the course of seven days. He could either be Japan's greatest actor, or the laziest person in the world. Whatever the answer was, I didn't feel the slightest of obligation or interest in asking him.

I looked at the clock again - It had now been forty minutes, meaning I only had to stay another five to fill out the minimum club responsibility requirement. As long as the club moderator didn't show up, I was home free.

As if an answer to my prayers, the devil commanded the door to be swung open for a second time, revealing the unnervingly tall Mr. Tanaka in the doorway. I kept my cool as he stepped in and peered directly at me, as if he could hear me excessively cursing in my head. I had no idea jinxes were a real scientific phenomenon.

"Is this the Service Club?" A tenor, strict and venomous voice rang out in the room, physically cutting the air around him. The "fairly-obvious-and-perhaps-rhetorical" question that was all too familiar seemed to be directed at me, since Oreki appeared to be sleeping with his eyes open.

"Yes, it is sir." I replied. Mr. Tanaka approached the table, carrying a stack of papers under his right arm. There was an ominously long period of silence between each of his footsteps, creating an unnerving atmosphere. Although it could just be me again. As always, I pulled off a flawless "I don't care about school but I care enough to look good around teachers" look as he pulled up a chair and set at the long table at the space opposite of the division between me and Oreki.

"I apologize for my tardiness today." He said simply, before producing the stack of papers from under his arm and placed them on the table with aimless precision. "At the moment, you still have club duties to attend to." The room was once again consumed by silence. Did he expect us to know what he was talking about?

"I have a question," Oreki asked. Mr. Tanaka appeared to be irritated that he interrupted his incredibly prolonged and mostly silent spiel, but shifted his attention to him nonetheless. "What kind of club duties will we be fulfilling since we only two members?" Mr. Tanaka looked like he didn't know how to answer the question for a few moments as his facial expression remained completely neutral. Despite that though, he always managed to wear a furrowed brow upon his aged face, like he was constantly ticked off by life. I don't blame him at all.

"As the club description stated, you will be helping other students with their school or personal problems by offering advice or physical labor. Those will be your duties." By now, it appeared that Oreki had grasped the fact that the club seemed to be a non-profit business that made no money, but instead rewarded it's employees with community service credits. He nodded slowly, as if he were saying "Thanks for telling me something I already know", and leaned back in his chair to let Mr. Tanaka continue.

"You are required to fill out this paperwork regarding club rules, requirements, and attendance. You are not excused from club responsibilities until you are finished." With that, Mr. Tanaka rose from the table and exited the room as slowly but ominously as he had entered. I looked at the stack of papers we had to fill out, already have expected the workload. Meanwhile, Oreki looked as if he were in the middle of passing out and leaving the room (A truly rare and hysterical sight). Surely, he didn't expect the infamous "Bully Crusher" to be the Service Club's moderator, but I had foreseen this ever since I joined. Maybe I was mean for not telling him back when I had the opportunity to, but in my opinion it was all worth it as soon as I got a glimpse of his face –– the Stone Prince had finally been grazed.

* * *

 _ **Welcome back to the Loner Club! I apologize for the absurdly long hiatus, but I'm back in action with more frequent updates and longer chapters! Look forward to next time with the beginning of the new story arc! See you then, and thanks for all the continued support!**_


	4. In Light (1)

**Chapter 4 - In Light (1)**

* * *

I glanced at the clock. It was five thirteen PM, exactly an hour after the minimal club attendance requirement. By this point, my right hand had settled into a limp hunk from being massively overworked, forced to write down the same thing over and over and over again. It was a completely mindless task that had absolutely zero need to have been done in one day. Then again, you _could_ in theory look at the bright side by saying that the very fact that it was a mindless task made it better than having to account for three dozen trigonometry questions. I opened and closed my hand from a fist to open palm a few times, shook it, and massaged it carefully to relax the stiff muscles. Something like that would in theory not help with stiff hand muscles at all, and in fact make it far worse looking at it from an anatomical standpoint, but at this point it felt like I just needed something to do with my hands. I sighed with relief, and peered over at Hikigaya's workload, which had been considerably dimished from the last time I looked at it. Despite that, it seemed he still wasn't done. All his attention was on the club requirement section that I'd filled out a few minutes prior, which was arguably the most annoying part of the entire procedure. His handwriting was... ugly, to say the least (not that mine was any better), but I could tell it was far worse then it would usually be due to the restless urgency and rapid hand movements. I looked away from his graphite chickenscratch to pick up my bag that was hanging on the chair, slung it around my shoulder and began to walk toward the door.

"I'm done with my half. Good luck with yours. See you tomorrow." I heard a brief "Yeah" two second later as I opened the door and stepped into the dead silent hallway. Bathed in pale, fading light, I noticed the sky outside meddling with orange undertones as the sun began to set. I began to walk to the staircase following a brief pause, wondering why I suddenly noticed a detail I had gotten used to long ago.

Back in middle school, I always left school far later than everybody else, be it in my grade or otherwise. Although I still don't have an answer for this behavior, perhaps it was because of my missing sense of urgency, brought upon me by the empty house that seemingly never waited for my return. Loneliness, you could call it, but not really; it was different, but in a way that you couldn't explain with words. I spent a lot of time in the library, not really reading as much as I was catching myself staring at random things for long periods of time. I sat alone until orange light began to pour into the now empty shelves before I packed my things and went home. It was an atmosphere that I didn't quite feel right in, like I didn't belong in a place without others. My mind, however, persisted against this theory when it in fact became true during the day. I like being alone, but being alone in a place that once used to be full of life is eerie, and very strange. I suddenly realized that the habit faded, disappeared completely after the break.

My thoughts were interrupted by a boy's quick footsteps, making his way to the stairs from the second floor. His pace was urgent, and he didn't seem to be hiding it. Thick glasses were perched on his nose, and long black hair draped over his ears. I didn't immediately recognize him, but a moment allowed me to identify the boy as Yoichi Sato, an energetic and social boy from my class. I'd never seen him in a hurry like this, especially on his own (considering he'd usually be with a small/large social circle). When he spotted me, he immediately rushed over in a fashion far more desperate than before.

"Oreki! Houtarou Oreki! That's you, right?" He shouted frantically.

"Yes! Yes, it is." I said, attempting to get him to calm down.

"Ishiki Natsuro! You know him, right? He's my friend, he's in our class, he's tall, brown hair, yeah?!"

"What?" I blurted out, before a mental picture of Natsuro suddenly came to mind. "Oh, right. Yeah."

"Have you seen him? At all? Did he come by here or anything? Did you see him in ANY of the classrooms?" His tone was getting increasingly worried and urgent.

"No, not at all." At this point, I really wanted to go so I didn't have to deal with this, because the boy was starting to get a little annoying.

"Do you know anybody that might know where he is?" I was about to reply with a snappy retort before I stopped myself. Momentarily, I actually considered getting to the root of the problem in order to get him to stop annoying me, but I knew that doing so would drag me further into this black hole to the point of no return. After a long mental battle where the side I was rooting for evidently lost, I hesitantly asked him a question.

"When did he disappear?" I asked. Sato suddenly stopped, his eyes filled with confusion for a short moment.

"After school," Sato started. "I've been looking for him since. I was hanging out with him, alone, at a karaoke place. After we left, I went to go get us some drinks from the vending machine, and when I came back he was just gone."

"What makes you think he came back to school?" Sato scratched his head worriedly with his shaky hand.

"I don't know! I've been looking everything I could think of, of course I went to his house first, but it was completely empty and all the lights were off, then I checked out usual hangout spots by the riverside and the park and the playground, then–"

"Stop freaking out, please." I said. He stopped his sentence immediately after I cut in. "You won't find him like that. Are you sure you've looked in every place you could think of?"

"Yes!" He replied quickly.

"You haven't contacted the police, have you?"

"No, not yet, but I'm damn near ready to!"

"Don't get the police involved in this if you don't have to. As long as this doesn't get stretched out too long, we should be able to find him without the police filing a formal investigation and making the situation a bigger deal then it should be." Sato relaxed a little, but even though I'm saying these things, I have no idea how I'm going to solve this. It didn't seem like Sato was the type to use his brain, and I just said that I didn't want to get any police involved, so at this current moment I was alone. As soon as I was about to open my mouth, I heard someone coming down the stairs. I turned to see it was Hikigaya, attempting to slip by the commotion silently.

"Hikigaya!" Sato suddenly shouted, having noticed him after I turned. _Sorry,_ I tried to tell him telepathically. Hikigaya froze as he was walking down the stairs to the first floor. It felt like he was going to burst into a full sprint after a few moments, but it didn't happen. He didn't make eye contact as he began to speak.

"I need to get home," he said. I expected that response, but it looked like Sato didn't. He began to walk down the stairs slower than before.

"Wait! Have you seen Ishiki Natsuro after school today?"

"Nope." He didn't stop walking. I decided to step in, but really only because I didn't want to be alone on this.

"Hikigaya, we're dealing with a missing person here. As a member of the Service Club, I'm pretty sure this is your duty." I gritted my teeth, regretting my words immediately after. I shouldn't be the one enforcing our "duty" here, leave that to someone who genuinely cares.

"Well I'm pretty sure we're only eligible to take requests before the designated club closing times." He was almost at the bottom of the stairs. Although at this point I didn't care that much about Sato's irrational pleads only a mere two hours after Natsuro's disappearance, I was starting to get ticked off by Hikigaya's stubbornness and lack of empathy to the core. I turned to Sato.

"Sato, Hikigaya's seen Natsuro today after school. I know he has, right now he's lying about it." This was a big gamble, but it was the only way to get him involved.

"Hikigaya! Please, if you know anything, tell me! This is really, really really important!" His voice was laced with a frighteningly authentic tone of desperation. Hikigaya's footsteps finally stopped, when he had reached the bottom of the stairs. It was dead silent for a few seconds again. He sighed as he replied.

"Yeah, I've seen him. He's on the roof. Now can I go home?" That's not what I wanted him to say. _At all_.

"Really? He is? Thank you!" Sato said, genuinely relieved. He ran upstairs before anybody else could say a word. However, his belief was wholly naïve. When Sato's restless footsteps were gone, I addressed Hikigaya again, whom hadn't moved an inch after Sato left.

"Why would you lie to him?"

* * *

"Taka," Natsuro said. "Did you see my email?"

"My mom doesn't let me use the computer without her permission. I had too much homework last night. You know how she is with that kinda stuff."

"In that case, I'll tell you now." Taka leaned back, curious but nervous about Natsuro's sincerity. "You know Yukiharu Nori, class 1D? He passed a note to Saya yesterday, after class. 2nd period." Taka's interest rose exponentially.

"A note? What kind've note?" Natsuro still wasn't looking him in the eye. Wind brushed his combed hair aside.

"Dunno. Me and you could probably wager a pretty obvious guess though."

"What, love letter you mean?" Natsuro nodded. Taka didn't elaborate on what he wanted to say next, opting to stay silent.

"I thought you liked her." Taka looked away. The roof grew quieter.

"I do. But I'm not going to do anything about it."

"And why is that, I wonder." Taka shook his head, trying to find a reason why he wouldn't just say the truth.

"Because she doesn't deserve someone like me, obviously." Natsuro scratched his temple, considering his next choice of words.

"Oh? You care about her feelings more than you care about your own? I find that rare, coming from someone like yourself." Taka wasn't set off like he was meant to.

"I'm selfish. But when it comes to her, I won't be." His grip on the bench tightened.

"I saw her last weekend, you know. She was with an older guy, senior probably, wasn't even from our school. They were holding hands." His hand dove into his pocket to search for his cellphone before Taka even replied, knowing he'd want proof when it came to matters like this.

"Senior. Was he tall?"

"See for yourself." He showed him the picture. Taka's eyes widened visibly, taking the phone from his hands. He returned it shortly after, but this time he didn't make any attempt at hiding his jealousy.

"So she's got a boyfriend already. I'm wondering why you didn't follow up with that after you told me about the note." Natsuro shrugged.

"I wasn't going to tell you, but since you aren't going to chase her after this I guess it's okay now."

Taka laughed bitterly. "Hah, yeah, I guess you're right. Now that I know this I'm going to give up completely. I was right about her not deserving me, she deserves someone better looking and taller. Someone who'd really care about her, not just someone who says they would." Natsuro was getting frustrated.

"What happened to you these days, Taka? You've lost all your... what, your determination? Your drive? Two weeks ago you wouldn't talk about anything but Saya." Taka scratched his head.

"I realized it when I was talking to her after class one day. She just seemed so unreachable. Like she was miles above me in terms of, well, everything. Sounds stupid I know, but to me, she's like an idol or an actress. A person that doesn't deserve to be with someone as low and selfish as me."

"You're put down a lot easier than I thought Taka. I believed that you were the type to not give up when it came to important things. You would really give up on someone you wanted to be with because of some stupid setback made you change your way of thinking? You still might've been cowardly before, but to me and everyone else, you weren't."

"It's not that. It's not that I'm just cowardly and that I changed my way of thinking, it's that if I was going to be with her, those things would have faded, and she would see me as I am right now. It was all just a façade. I thought that you knew that." Natsuro sighed out of disappointment.

"I talked to Nori. He told me that it was a love letter." Taka didn't say anything.

"Why are you lying so much? Why didn't tell me that at the start? Why did you act like you didn't know what it was?" This approach wasn't working like Natsuro intended. He decided to be frank about it.

"Taka, I want you to chase Saya."

"Why?"

"Because you're my friend, and seeing you give up so easily brings me down as well. It brings everyone down. You still have a chance. Her boyfriend is a senior, he'll graduate soon, and as things are they're fairly disconnected anyway."

"So you did all that just to get me to chase Saya again?" Taka asked, likely knowing the answer.

"Yeah. I didn't know how else to do it."

"Okay, fine. I will." Natsuro lit up. He lit up too much, in fact.

"Really?"

"Yeah. If you would do that much digging just get to me to man up, fine."

The door to the roof behind them suddenly burst open, and Yoichi Sato frantically emerged from it.

"Natsuro! Why are you here man?!" Natsuro turned to Taka.

"Alright, check your email when you get home. And please get a cellphone at some point, this method of contacting you is ridiculous."

"Okay. See you." Taka's rush of determination hadn't returned yet, but Natsuro didn't expect it to for another few days. He clasped his hand on his shoulder and left to go talk to Sato. By this point, his gambit had completely paid off.

"Sorry dude, Taka called me and told me to meet him here immediately. I was going to tell you, but..."

"Yeah, I was getting drinks inside. But man, I was really worried. I was gonna call the police, but Oreki convinced me not to."

"Oreki? Houtarou Oreki from our class?"

"Yeah. Alright man, next time, please tell me if you're gonna go somewhere."

"Okay, sorry, I will. But really, you're overreacting."

"I swear, you coulda gotten kidnapped or something."

"Nah. By the way, what exactly did Oreki tell you to do?"

"Ummm, he said that I could find you as long as I didn't look for too long or something? He said calling the police was a bad idea, at least. Then he tried to get Hikigaya from our class to help him out as well."

"Hikigaya? Really?" Natsuro's interest was peaked.

"Yeah, I was surprised too to be honest."

"Any idea what club he's in?"

"Nope."

"Oh well. Glad you listened to Oreki's advice, the police getting here just for me to come down the stairs would've been real bad."

"Yeah, me too! Man, now that I think of it, he's kind've a life saver..."

"No," Natsuro said, "I think that's taking it a little far."

* * *

 _ **Welcome back to The Loner Club! After another super long hiatus (I'm really sorry!) I'm finally back with more. This time, a new story arc is starting, which will probably span a few chapters. It will detail a plan that quickly develops into a twisted rumor that has spread across the school, leaving Oreki and Hikigaya as some of the only ones unaffected, and as such responsible for fixing what has happened. If you enjoyed this chapter, please leave a review with things you liked or didn't like and how to improve! Even story or characters ideas would be highly appreciated. Thank you, I sincerely appreciate your patience with this series! I can't promise that a new chapter will come out soon (You can probably remember what happened the last time I said that...) but I definitely try my best. If you wondering where I am in terms of progress with a new chapter, feel free to shoot me a PM! See you next time!**_


	5. In Light (2)

**Chapter 5 - In Light (2)**

* * *

They say that every person has a heart of gold. For some, that may be true, but others have theirs buried beneath heaps and piles of ice and soot. The shining, reflective gold would be hidden, being nonexistent even to those who are unaware of it's existence. But every person knows they have one, as small as that glimmer might be, it's there. Or at least that's how the saying goes.

It's bullcrap, though. Some people's intentions have nothing behind them, no emotion or hidden feelings. Although I don't consider myself as one of those people, it's how I come off to others. Which is the point, really; I don't want others to believe that I care about their problems unless I have no way of getting out of that situation. Of course, I'll want believe that I can help them in some way, but would never really go as far as to physically prove it to them. So although I might have a heart of gold, no matter how small that glimmering sliver may be, I try not to show that part of myself in front of others. It's the part of me that I can't ignore, and will always be called into action by my empathetic conscious even if I don't want it to.

So when I was confronted by Yoichi Sato – the annoying and overly energetic kid from my class – with a problem, I couldn't ignore it even though I tried. I could've run, but I didn't. He asked me where his friend, the tall kid named Ishiki Natsuro, had gone off to, and I first lied by saying I didn't know where he was. But when Oreki got involved and gave me a second chance, I had no choice but to tell the truth, an act so small and trivial that I could have started with that to begin with and wouldn't hurt anybody in the process. Now when I think back on it, I'm wondering why I didn't.

"Why would you lie to him?" Oreki asked. He seemed to be getting the wrong idea, which was intentional; it was for the best.

"He was annoying," was all I told him in reply before I headed to the door wordlessly. Yes, that was also true– two sides of myself, although with clashing ideologies, managed to both speak the truth, even though in tandem they would both be regarded as lies. I suppose you could call that a talent, an insufferable one at that. By definition, a talent is a natural ability, something you're born with. In which case, even if I wanted to correct this crooked part of myself, I wouldn't be able to. It's just how humans work, and always will work. By the time we do inevitably find a way to change that, will we really be ourselves anymore?

I found myself this situation in the first place because I was in a place I wasn't supposed to be, overhearing something that I wasn't supposed to hear. That's how I discovered the truth: in the most dishonest way possible. Ishiki Natsuro was calmly walking up the stairs, talking to someone I didn't recognize; a student from a neighboring class, most likely. I was on my way to the restroom before I heard the commotion from the stairs, uninterested at first. I only stopped when I began to listen in on what they were saying. I began to hear words like "note", "meeting", "talk", and "please" before things began to get fishy, especially with the harsh tone over it. I quickly stepped into the restroom and closed the door, listening to their conversation from inside. It was an act that I normally wouldn't have bothered with at all, but really I didn't feel like going back to the clubroom to do more of that boring paperwork so it was an excuse to kill time at least. Natsuro's companion was a female, who didn't appear to be talking very much in reply to him. Not that she could; Natsuro appeared to be asking a favor and putting a proposition on top of it, an overly manipulative spin on the task at hand that made me begin to doubt the truth behind his words.

"Saya's boyfriend goes to Homura, right?" His tone of voice suddenly shifted from harsh to honeyed.

"...Yes, I-I suppose."

"Okay, just wanted to make sure. You'll make sure to tell her that I talked to you?"

"Yeah."

"Thanks! You're the best!" Natsuro's footsteps quickened as he ran up the stairs. His associate appeared to walk further down the hall, likely to her locker or classroom. I waited a few more seconds for complete silence before I stepped out again. I didn't pick up anything useful from what I heard, and as such didn't care to meddle deeper with the situation then I already had. It was then that I noticed I had accidentally walked into the girl's bathroom in my haste to get out of sight. My face flushed red hot as I walked to the boy's bathroom in embarrassment.

As I recalled the accident, I felt my face getting hot again before I tried to think about something else. I attempted to preoccupy myself by putting together the pieces of this strange situation with what I had so far. Ishiki Natsuro was going to meet someone on the roof, but made sure to speak with someone beforehand, meaning that whatever talk he was going to have on the rooftop wasn't going to be a casual meeting. He was up to something, but I didn't know enough yet to exactly figure out what it is he was trying to pull. He mentioned a girl named Saya... I didn't know the name beforehand, but there's apparently some celebrity level girl in class 1C and the name could be hers. My train of thought came to a sudden stop when I approached my street; this wasn't my business, I shouldn't be trying to play detective for someone I didn't even know.

* * *

The clubroom was empty when I arrived, not surprising. I put my bag down on the table and pulled out a chair, not taking long before settling in and resting my head on the cold surface. I wasn't particularly tired, but I had no club duties before someone came in with a legitimate problem since I'd already filled out all the paperwork along with Oreki. Even though I enjoyed the silence, I couldn't help but feel restless. I tapped my foot repeatedly on the ground, shifting my position on the chair and table, tried resting my head in different ways to not get a cramp in my neck, but it was fairly hopeless. It had only been five minutes, and the only change so far was the howling wind brushing against the closed window. Suddenly, footsteps were audible and the door opened not soon after. A boy, not one that I recognized, stood at the entrance. He was short and had curt black hair; not a very memorable first impression. Maybe he'd prove me wrong after whatever this visit entailed.

"Hello." He said awkwardly. "I'm um, Taka Kizawa." Another painful silence filled the room. I stared at him silently, waiting for him to continue. He adjusted his collar as he stepped inside and closed the door behind him. He approached the table and pulled up a chair, sitting down across from me. "I need some advice. This is the service club, correct?"

"Yeah." I replied. I don't know how good any kind of advice I could give would be, and I can't say that I'd put any effort into coming up with something profound.

"Okay." He took a deep breath, clearly nervous. Or troubled. Or both. "I have this friend, Ishiki Natsuro, who's been acting kinda strange lately. I have no clue whats eating at him but all my friends are super loyal to him and I don't feel comfortable discussing this with them. And asking him directly would be super weird too." This was clearly going into uncharted territory, even for this club.

"So what kind of advice are you expecting?" I quickly realized that I didn't have much of a choice. Either I help this guy, or Tanaka-sensei was going to be at my throat. Besides, this might help answer some questions from yesterday.

"Well... I don't know, just, how do I find out whats going on with him without making it weird or seem like I'm butting in to his personal problems?" It sounded like he hasn't been friends with Natsuro for very long. Anyone who knew him in junior high would know that they shouldn't be this nervous to confront him about personal things. It's something that's extremely obvious, even just from silent observation.

"Just ask him directly. It's what any of his friends would do."

"I just... can't. It's complicated."

"How?"

"He sent me this email yesterday after school. He wrote about this girl I have a crush on... she's seeing someone in a different school, a senior, he gave me his name and school and stuff. He told me to go talk to him, and it didn't really sound like a suggestion. He has never done that before, and it's kinda, well the circumstances are different this time around. If it was anything else, I'd ask him directly. I just have this feeling that he's up to something."

"It sounds to me like he's just trying to help with your love life." I said half-sarcastically.

"We talked on the roof yesterday. It really seemed like he wanted me to chase this girl, even if she has a boyfriend. Like uncharacteristically eager." Well that was the missing puzzle piece; Natsuro was going to the roof yesterday to meet with Kizawa, on the way there he was coercing a friend of Saya's, who is the girl that Kizawa has a crush on, to tell him what school her boyfriend goes to. For whatever reason, he's trying to get Saya to break up with her boyfriend and get together with Kizawa, or perhaps just the first part of that. All that's missing is Natsuro's motive and this can get sorted out. Of course, I wasn't going to disclose that I knew any of what happened yesterday, so I kept my sentences vague.

"Think about it this way; if Natsuro was up to something, why would it involve helping you get together with this girl? You're saying it as if it's a bad thing, which apparently it is in your eyes. Just roll with it." Kizawa seemed to calm down a bit, as if my advice was actually helping him.

"Okay. Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. If um, if something comes up with him I'll come back." He stood up, and pushed the chair under the desk. He quickly made his way to the door, stating a short "thank you" before leaving the room. I wasn't planning on telling him that I was still highly suspicious of whatever Natsuro was doing, since I knew full well from junior high that he would never ever go this far to help a new kid get together with someone. I knew that he would come back a lot sooner that he himself would be expecting. All I wished was that I could get this over with quickly, and preferably alone.


	6. In Light (3)

**Chapter 6 - In Light (3)**

* * *

"Hi," I said, stepping into the living room. My older sister, Tomoe, was splayed comfortably on the couch watching TV, holding a steaming teacup in her hands. She stopped looking at her nature program for a moment to make eye contact as she smiled brightly. Too brightly.

"Hey little brother, how are you?" I scratched my head, taking off my shoes by the doorway and placing my bag down by the staircase. I sighed and made my way over the armchair by the coffee table before answering her.

"Decent. What brings you back?" She grinned, her expression quite unlike anything I was used to seeing. Whenever she visited, I had to get used to her appearance; she'd always have a different style of brightly colored attire, and had some kind of different tick or obsession. She probably picked it up from all her travels, but honestly it didn't make it any less strange. She always wore her long light brown hair in the same way though, maybe with a different colored hair tie, but one thing I knew would never change with any amount of travel would be those lazy green eyes that seemed all too familiar.

"Mm, maybe visit some friends, do some shopping. And see you too of course." Her tone was dripping with sarcasm, but it was glazed with uncomfortable familial love rather than venomous connotations. I guess you could call it teasing, but in a sibling kind of way. I have no idea if that's just her of if that's common among older sisters. In any case, it was a bit less...vivid than usual, to my surprise.

"Right." She called me back here to meet with her right after school, forcing me to skip club, so I knew she had more to say. For some reason she was holding it back until I asked her, which wasn't particularly uncommon with her, but the way she felt a bit off was just slightly worrying. I didn't know if I should ask about it directly or wait until she brought it up, so I opted for the safer route. I stood up, "I have to go do some homework so..." She cut in quickly, as expected.

"Oreki... we, um, need to talk. About mom." I froze. My heart began pumping uncomfortably fast as adrenaline raced through my blood in an instant. What was going on? The mere mention of the word "mom" was enough to make me go ballistic internally. It wasn't long before it would become too obvious to hide. I tried my best to keep it cool and sat back down, taking a deep breath. "She wants to visit us. This month." My mother hadn't been home in roughly seven years at this point, so the fact that she suddenly wanted to visit now was slightly, well, disconcerting, putting it mildly. Why did she want to see us? She walked out on me, Tomoe and dad on her own volition. What changed? Is she finally feeling guilty after all these years? I didn't want to voice any of my concerns. Obviously, I wasn't doing a great job of hiding those concerns, because Tomoe had a concerned expression on her face as she looked at me. "I know this is... sudden. But she called me a few days ago. I was surprised too you know."

"Did she tell you more?" Of all the questions and emotions that were bottling up inside me, that was the only thing I felt comfortable with asking. Tomoe placed the teacup on the table and sat up straight. At this point, her smile was gone, at least her genuine one.

"Well... not much other than she just wanted to talk to us. Catch up on things."

"And why now? Seven years later?" Tomoe's change in expression seemed to agree with me for a moment, but she quickly shook her head.

"I... don't know. I didn't ask, I was so shocked that I didn't have time to ask anything else. She hung up right after telling me, too." I was so confused and honestly more emotionally conflicted than I had ever been for a long, long time. But I kept it cool. I shrugged my shoulders and stood up.

"I need to go do my homework," I said as I left for my room. I needed a bit of time to think for myself.

I closed the door, laying down on my bed and resting my forearm over my eyes. I felt extremely tired, but for some reason I couldn't bring myself to sleep. My eyes were closed, but it felt like they could burst open if I stopped straining my eyelids. _It's just the adrenaline, it'll wear off,_ I kept telling myself, but I'm a pretty bad liar. Even to myself, which is the saddest part. I rolled on my side and began rubbing my bangs. No matter how much I tried, I just couldn't put the situation together in a coherent fashion in my head. My mom? Coming home after seven years of an unexplained absence for basically no reason? My mind was racing with possibilities, and that's an understatement. Did my dad even know about this? He wasn't home for most of the time working overseas, so it's entirely plausible that he wouldn't be here for her homecoming. But if I could wager an educated guess, my mom probably called him about that, if not that meant she didn't want him to know about her coming home at all, which would also mean that she told my sister to keep quiet about it. I just could not form a motive at all. My mom was by far the most enigmatic figure in my life, the gap between her and my sister and even dad being astronomical. I had to think hard to even remember what she looked like, which was worrying. Sure, there are pictures on the countertop and even one on the fridge, but I find my eyes avoiding those as if they weren't there at all. Who was she? Was she really my mom, or is that just a superficial label that we put on the people that give birth to us? Are they really our mother if they aren't around for half your life? I found my eyelids finally growing heavy. I gave in to my fatigue with a forgotten final thought.

* * *

The schoolbell rung after another uneventful hour of Japanese history. I yawned, sitting back in my chair. In the corner of my eye, I saw Ryota, who apparently wasn't wearing his signature dark blue headband today, with an unusually strange look on his face. It was actually a bit worrying, speaking truthfully; it wasn't his typical sneer, it was more of a repressed look of worry or anxiety or something like that. Oh well, not my problem. I stood up, retrieving my things from the desk and shoving it into my backpack without a second thought. My eyes temporarily wandered up to Hikigaya's seat, but he had already left. Presumably to the club, seeing as how today was wednesday. It's really a pain, having to commit to a club where you do virtually nothing for at least forty-five minutes three times a week. I already had to skip the day before yesterday's meeting, so there's no backing out of this one now. I began making my way to the club room, already glancing at my watch accompanied by a subtle unenthusiastic yawn.

To my surprise, I opened the door to be greeted by two people. One of them was the fish-eyed boy who was facing in the other direction of the mysterious visitor, who was peering out the window into the courtyard. The long black hair and short stature of the person immediately made my heart sink; I really did not have the energy for this. Not only was it likely to be a new club member, but a girl? Don't take it the wrong way, I have no problem with girls, but the ones who won't stop talking drive me nuts. Judging by Hikigaya's obvious reaction, I could tell we were in for a treat. She turned around to see who had entered, and I was immediately taken aback. In a good or bad way, I wasn't really sure; it felt like time had slowed down. I felt myself staring into two large sparkling voids of magenta amethysts instead of regular eyes, a sight that I couldn't say I was used to. A curious, confused look accompanied her two giant eyes, widened more than what should be considered normal. Time still hadn't returned to it's normal speed, in fact only when I began to realize that my eyes had been locked with hers for way longer than what should be considered socially acceptable, I had returned to reality. Her face lit up.

"Hi! I'm Eru Chitanda." I was at a loss for words, and not in a "love-at-first-sight" kind of way.

"Hello." I replied, finding a seat at the table. She skipped her way in front of me as I sat down. Her extreme radiance was already wearing me down, which was a very, very bad sign.

"I just joined the Service Club. Where you help people and stuff like that, right?" I sighed.

"Yep. That's here." She smiled, and I looked down at my bag to start fishing out a book or something. She kept standing there until my hand grasped what I was looking for and produced some light novel. I started getting uncomfortable when I reached the second page. "Um... you can take a seat."

"I know, it's just... your eyes, they're really green." I felt creeped out, like way more than I was before. I instinctively shrank in my seat, taking a quick side glance at Hikigaya for reassurance before I realized his back was facing us.

"Uh..." I said. She leaned in closer.

"They remind me of emeralds..." Even closer.

"Hey..." I said. Her face was extremely close now. I could feel a sweatdrop rolling down my temple for the awkwardness and tension of the whole scene, wishing that she'd stop leaning in. _Does this girl have no sense of personal space?!_

I was finally saved by the bell, as they say. But instead of a bell, it was the door opening, revealing Ryota and his unkempt gelled blonde hair on the other side. I can't believe that I was thinking this, but I was actually glad to see him. Chintanda backed off and instead focused her attention on him this time. I readjusted my collar and swallowed. Ryota's face twisted up into an ugly sneer when he saw me, his classic trademark. He shook it off.

"This... is the Service Club, I assume." There was silence before Chitanda took the initiative.

"Yes! Yes, it is. What do you need?" She was already getting overly excited. Ryota looked like he wanted to leave really badly, but had to be here for whatever reason.

"I have a problem. It's um... my brother."


	7. In Light (4)

**Chapter 7 - In Light (4)**

* * *

"Your brother?" Chitanda asked, clearly curious.

"Yeah... um, he's, well..." he mumbled something under his breath while rubbing the back of his head. His face looked the same as it did back in class; that worried but repressed expression that was extremely uncharacteristic of him. On top of that, he looked humiliated by having to look like that in front of me and even a girl as well.

"Take a seat." Hikgaya spoke up. He didn't even bother making eye contact with him, something which sparked Ryota's killer sneer for a moment before he took another deep breath and relaxed, or restrained himself depending on if you're a "glass half-empty or half-full" kind of type, making his way to one of the chairs at the table. He noisily pulled it out, probably in pent up frustration and angst, and took a seat. He wasn't looking any more relieved by having to sit in front of me and Hikigaya, in fact it looked like he was getting even angrier by having to subject himself to this situation out of necessity. It was quite obvious that the fact that he was here meant that he had literally no other options. I can't imagine that he had a very large peer group to open up to either. He sat there, fidgeting for another few seconds, before it looked like he had finally worked out what to say.

"He's... acting a lot more aggressive than usual." He stopped, as if he didn't want to disclose anything else but had to. At this point he looked even more reluctant than he was when he had first opened the door. There was silence, prompting him to continue out of tension. "He has a girlfriend. Uh... I think, he doesn't really tell me much. But I know that whatever he does to her, it isn't right. At all. But I can't stop him. I just can't–" He paused again. He was starting to sweat from his forehead, but he quickly wiped it away. He was shaking just a bit. I could tell that this meant a lot to him; it was somewhat of a refreshing change of pace from his usual demeanor, seeing him actually care a lot about something. "I um, really need help with this."

Chitanda decided to butt in and extended her hand to meet his shoulder, "Sure, we can help you. Do you want us to meet with him or–"

"No!" He cut in with a piercing roar. He took another deep breath, looking immediately regretful. Chitanda looked taken aback, but not particularly shocked by his reply. She withdrew her extended hand. "Um, sorry. No, I don't want anyone to see him right now. He'll think that I'm up to something. And the last thing I want is for him to..." He clenched his fist tightly, holding himself back. I somewhat expected him to finish his sentence, but then again he definitely wasn't the kind of person to open up to a bunch of strangers, so I took it back.

"So you want advice?" Hikigaya suddenly interjected. At this point, his interest had probably been peaked, although it was incredibly difficult to tell just by glancing at his face; his expression always seemed to be a perpetual mix of angst, boredom, and disgust. Ryota didn't bother looking at him; his gaze was fixed on the table with undeniable shame. He didn't reply, which Hikigaya seemed to take as a "yes". He sighed, taking his eyes off Ryota and instead peered at the wall in front of him. I could tell that he knew something, and was trying to put things together in his head without saying it out loud. Or maybe he was just gave up on the guy and decided to look at a wall instead. Either could be a real possibility, sadly.

"Your brother," I said. "does he go to our school?"

"No." He replied curtly. _Well, that slightly complicates things..._

Chitanda looked around at us, puzzled by the tense silence that had washed over the room. It looked like she wanted to say something to break the ice, but had no clue what to ask that wouldn't seem inappropriate. "Um..."

"Okay, you can leave now. We'll give this some thought." I said after about 10 seconds of complete silence. Ryota looked highly displeased, but still agreed with me, knowing that he didn't have anything else to say. He gathered his bag and left the room without another word, closing the door behind him. Chitanda idly stood there in the center of the room, looking at the door with a dazed and frankly bewildered expression. _She still has a lot to get used to._

I looked at the clock, noticing that there was only about ten minutes before we could leave. I grabbed my book and tried to get to reading again, but was constantly distracted by the smallest of things; first, Chitanda's exploration of the room and constant restless scuttling was driving me nuts, especially complimented by her fidgety nature. Second, after she finally decided to take a seat, she chose to sit in the chair directly opposite of me, and pulled out some schoolwork. I had to fight the urge to ask her why she had to do that right in front of me, but I kept it cool and didn't say anything.

"So..." She shattered the silence with her dainty voice, a silence that I was finally beginning to grow fond of. "did he tell us his name? Or did I forget?"

"No. But we both know his name already." I replied, not taking my eyes off the book.

"Oh, really?" She asked.

"He's in our class. His name is Ryota, I don't know his first name." Chitanda cocked her head.

"He's in your class but... you don't know his first name?" That felt slightly insulting, but then again she was perfectly right; it was the third week of school and I didn't even know the first name of my greatest adversary.

"Yeah."

"Hm... Oreki, do you think his brother is troubled because of something his girlfriend did?" I put down the book, closing my eyes. I rubbed the bridge of my nose, sighing loud enough to get my point across that I didn't want to stir up idle chatter a few minutes before club ended. When I finally decided to look at her again, she was staring patiently at me with a light smile.

"I don't know." I tried to cut off the conversation short.

"I think so. Did he say if his girlfriend goes to our school?"

"I don't know."

"Well, he doesn't go to our school, so there's not a big chance that she does, but if she did then we might be able to talk to her or something. It would help us with finding out what exactly is wrong with Ryota's brother."

"Yep."

"Oreki, are you ignoring me?"

"Huh? Of course not, what made you think that?" I tried not to let my venomous sarcasm drip into my reply.

"We need to find out more; I'm curious!" The way she said that made me prematurely grieve for my future self, who would have to endure this spasmodic girl for another three years. I wonder if I would grow numb to her radiance, or if I would eventually join her in it. I guess time is the only one to tell.

* * *

After club ended, I gathered my belongings and left before the two lovebirds had a chance to question me. Today's meeting with Ryota shed a lot of light on the developing situation with Taka and Natsuro, offering yet another integral puzzle piece. Once I had this pieced together, it would be easier to find a way to get Natsuro to expose whatever he was planning, not that I couldn't do that now, but as they say: patience is key. I shook my head, questioning my sudden interest and involvement in this drama, wondering why the heck I even cared. Sure, it was technically my club duty, but I wasn't sharing anything or am planning to share anything with Oreki or Chitanda, so this was practically only for personal reasons. I would be able to help some school bully and a spineless freshman, two types of people I had no intention of ever getting involved with. But I felt a strange sense of duty, something that I could easily ignore if I wanted to. As long as nobody found out, it would be like it was never even there.

It wasn't a stretch at all to say that Ryota's brother is the senior who Saya is dating. It also explains the secrecy of the meeting between Natsuro and Saya's friend in the hallway, considering her apparent reluctance to spill the beans about Saya's relationship which is apparently abusive. If that was the case, it meant that Ryota's older brother attends Homura, a prep school that is utterly demeaning to get accepted into. But why did he decide to date a freshman from Sobu? It might be for her looks, although I've never even seen Saya myself to judge, so that's a tossup. And what the hell did Saya do to make Ryota's brother abusive towards her? I began to consider Natsuro's involvement in the whole ordeal, questioning why he would want Taka to get involved. Perhaps it was to save Saya from Ryota's brother, but then again, if that was the case it would mean that Natsuro would be getting something in return as well if you factor his true nature into account. I had plenty of context, but no motives. If I actually wanted to find a way to expose Natsuro, it certainly wouldn't be very successful with the amount of information I had at the moment. And I wasn't going to go around playing detective and interviewing people involved to get their take on the whole thing, so I opted to stay silent and see what I could find out from silent observation. That was probably one of my biggest strengths anyway, playing bystander.

Just before I reached the gate, I saw Natsuro standing by the bike racks, unlocking the chain for his own with a small key. Now would be a good time to talk to the man himself, but I didn't really know what I would ask him. Besides, I had plenty of time for questioning at a later stage. But then again, now would be optimal, considering his lack of knowledge of my involvement in the ordeal. Nah, I can always just do it later. For now, I wanted to head home.

"Hey!" A voice called. I kept walking. "Hachiman!" I froze. Did someone just call me by my first name? I turned slowly to face the direction of the voice, not surprised to see Natsuro beckoning me to him. He bowed apologetically as I approached cautiously. "Sorry for calling you by your first name, that was a little rude, sorry again." I nodded silently. "So uh, how are you?" He called me over just for a bit of smalltalk? I observed carefully as I replied with the most normal thing I could imagine.

"Fine." Short sentences apply tension, thus forcing him to get the point faster. It was a brilliant psychological tactic to get people to say what's on their mind, learned only from the best.

"Good, good. So um, I just wanted to ask you about something. Or rather, someone." I looked at him silently, waiting for him to continue. "You know Ryota, from our class?"

"Yeah."

"He's looks like he's been feeling kinda down lately, I know you aren't very familiar with him, but could you talk to him to see what's wrong? I think he would be super grateful if someone helps him with his problem."

"What?" I blurted out. That's the only word that I had on my mind after that spiel of stupidity and concentrated ignorance.

"Eh... ahaha, sorry, it's kinda weird to ask this from you, I know you aren't the most comfortable with other people, especially Ryota's type, but I think that if I would get involved I would just make it worse. I don't really know how to approach people about their personal problems, I just pretend like I do in class. So could you please do this little thing for him? It's not even for me, it's just for him." He didn't seem to get the point. He's asking _me_ , the bystander to rule all bystanders, to approach the most infamous delinquent in our grade and ask him what's wrong with his personal life. Whatever Natsuro was pulling, it was idiotic. And that's me being nice about it.

"Uh... sure..." It appeared that he knew absolutely nothing about my knowledge of his scheme, which was good, but then again he could be pulling an act just to test me. I agreed just to play along. Better safe than sorry.

"Really? Awesome dude, thank you so much!" He slapped me on the back and pulled me into an uncomfortable handshake, before getting his bike off the rack. "I owe you one! Really!"

"Yeah..." _I thought he said that I wasn't doing it for him._ Oh well, he _is_ the type to make everything about himself.


	8. In Light (5)

**Chapter 8 - In Light (5)**

* * *

 _"Don't you wish you could know everything in the world?"_

 _"No, because then there would be nothing left to surprise us, right?"_

 _"I don't like surprises."_

 _"Why not?"_

 _"Because I want to know what I'm getting before. I don't like waiting."_

 _"You should. One day, you'll have to wait, even if you don't want to. It's best to get used to it before that happens."_

I remember feeling confused about that. Naturally, seven year old me wouldn't understand the patience required to make it through adulthood, not that I really know much about that now. Maybe my mom told me that because she knew she'd be leaving us, and that I should get ready to learn patience so I wouldn't panic about her disappearance. Even now, it makes me strive for unlimited knowledge even more, so that I could fully understand why she chose to do that. I had a strong feeling that whatever explanation she'd give would be far from the actual truth. That is simply the impression I have of her now, not of the honest, wise woman she used to be.

Whenever I have dreams, they're never of things that have happened recently. In fact, I can't recall a single one that went over things I had experienced in the present. They come in the form of pseudo-flashbacks, but are never quite an accurate retelling of former events. I guess that's just how dreams work, always with a hazy veil draping over the things we are struggling to remember. I've simply learned to ignore that longing nostalgia of the past, searching for answers where there clearly are none. It really isn't as easy as it sounds, in fact it's a lot harder. But I've learned it. And all I'm left with is wondering whether that was a good idea or not.

"Hey! Little brother! Wake up!" I was shaken back into reality by Tomoe. I blinked; my eyes were already open since I'd been awake, daydreaming after waking up. "Oh, you were already awake?"

"Yeah." I replied, quite surprised myself. I'd usually spend the ten extra minutes napping, but for some reason I couldn't let go of what I saw. Tomoe stood in the doorway for a moment more with a perplexed expression, likely after observing my arguably unnatural morning behavior, but it vanished quickly.

"Your hair is a mess. Come on, or you'll be late." I briefly combed through it with one hand, quickly finding out she was right, before slowly getting out of bed.

"Guess I'll need to fix breakfast too..." Of course I would, she never cooks herself when she's home. She probably knows 100 different exotic recipes but is too lazy to try out any of them. I guess that's something we have in common.

After heading out the front door, I remembered that we had something special in school today. Was it some kind of field trip? Could be possible, although I probably would've remembered if that was the case. Maybe a foreign speaker who was gonna talk about his/her experience in some fantastic adventure overseas? Again, probable, but I don't remember anyone mentioning a visiting speaker, so maybe not. What the heck was it...

I started walking towards school, noticing I was actually a bit earlier than usual. Although despite that, I felt that I was a bit more restless to get moving than usual. I only realized my pace had increased immensely over a short period of time without me even noticing it. What on earth was nagging so much at me? Why did I feel this urge to run away from something? I knew full well that it was because of that dream I had, but even now I can barely remember what it was even about. Maybe that's what it was, being frustrated with the inability to remember a dream that clearly had an impact on me. After deep consideration, I spontaneously remembered that "special event" we were supposed to be having in school today, which if I recalled correctly was just a regular assembly instead of last period. Great.

I approached school a few minutes later, my mind surprisingly concentrated and sharp despite not actually thinking about anything in particular. It was likely just a side-effect of my dream this morning, that I still remember clearly even now. Which was extremely rare, in fact it's the first time I've been able to recall a dream more than 10 minutes after I've woken up. Before making it up to the front gate, straying past a few chatting groups of students, I noticed Chitanda getting off her bike a bit further from the main gate, rolling it up slowly and making sure her kickstand wasn't in the way. She caught me looking at her and called out to me.

"Oreki! Good morning!" She waved enthusiastically. I tried to ignore her by looking away and pretending to be interested in something else, but it was practically impossible since she was between me and the gate entrance. I braced myself for her blinding energy as I approached resentfully.

"Hi," I said as dryly as possible. Her crystalline eyes seemed to sparkle even the absence of direct sunlight.

"I've been wondering about Ryota's problem and how we can fix it. I think we should figure out who his brother's girlfriend is first. Have you been thinking about it too?" She was practically bouncing with excitement over this dumb mystery.

"Well..." I actually had a little, but not enough to come up with anything significant. "not really. I'll probably give it more thought during club today." Chitanda suddenly had a puzzled look on her face.

"But I thought we didn't have club today?" _Thank god,_ is what I wanted to say, but considering the current circumstances it was probably a bit inappropriate. I scratched my head.

"Maybe not. Well, then tomorrow we can go over it some more. Okay?" I emphasized the ending of my sentence to signal the conversation was over, and starting powerwalking towards the school entrance. Chitanda followed swiftly beside me.

"Oreki! We really should help Ryota, he seems very broken up about it. And besides, it's part of our club duties." She was basically pleading me to think about it.

"Like you said, we don't have club today–"

"Even so, he still needs our help. And other than that, I just can't stop thinking about what is troubling his brother. Please?"

"I need to get to class..." She suddenly sped up her pace and abruptly stopped right in front of me. Her face was mere inches from my own.

"Please?" She was wearing quite the determined expression, somehow enhanced by an extremely nosy frown. "I'm curious!" I took a gulp, subtly looking for openings to get past her. She started leaning in even closer. _We're right outside of school, in public no less! What the heck is wrong with her?_

"Fine, I guess so..." I gave in, unable to come up with anything logical enough to convince her that this wasn't worth my time. At least on non-club days. "But I really need to get to class now, so–"

"Thank you so much! Please do your best!" Chitanda chimed enthusiastically, stepping back and bowing far too formally, before I quickly pivoted around her to speedwalk inside. I took a deep breath after leaning up against the shoelockers. I could already feel my peaceful, carefree life slipping away from between my fingers, but I suppose that happened as soon as I joined the service club.

The day inched by slowly. In the corner of my eye, I couldn't help but notice Hikigaya casting long glances towards Ryota, who was unsurprisingly acting a lot calmer than usual. In my mind, I would automatically assume it was simply out of mere observation, subtly following his actions and small changes in body language due to his brother's aggression to make sure he wasn't lying. However, I was almost completely certain that Hikigaya wasn't the kind of person to do that under his own volition. Either someone told him something about Ryota that has him turning his gears, or Ryota himself is acting suspicious. Both cases were equally plausible, there was really no way of knowing with absolute certainty without more information.

We'd be receiving our math tests at the end of class. One thing I've noticed about Ryota, actually being one of the first things he did that left an impression, is that every single time he gets a test back he crumples it up and throws it in the garbage without even so much as taking a glance at the score. Being the kind of person he is, it's easy to assume that he simply doesn't care about school and as a result, his grades. In most cases, that would actually be true, but something about his behavior makes me rethink that conclusion: Put simply, every one of his actions feel forced. Especially those where he is attempting to intimidate or show dominance over another, although he pulls off a convincing act (which is easy when his victims are too busy wetting themselves that don't take the time to second-guess him) it simply feels out of place. His punk style is overly expressive for that of a "delinquent", as they say. There are many hints, albeit subtle, that Ryota isn't the person he claims to be. Of course, this is all just a hypothesis. There's no solid evidence. And I'm not particularly interested in invading another student's private space and potentially get expelled just to prove myself. But then again, every problem has a second solution...

As soon as the teacher returned all our tests and the bell rang, I stood up and casually moved over to Ryota's desk. Plan A was to try getting a peek at his score before he would crumple it up, but I would almost certainly not be fast or smooth enough to pull it off. As he turned it over, I attempted to spot an opening, but to no avail – He noticed me quickly and sneered at me. "Screw off," was his remark. I put Plan B into action immediately.

"What did you get? I messed up pretty bad." Ryota stood up and collected his belongings, ignoring my question. _Well, I guess that was a bit too straightforward..._ Before giving up, I went all in to see how he'd react. "You can stop trying to hide your perfect score, I already saw it." Ryota visibly flinched. He still refused to make eye contact, not that I'd reciprocate anyway. He simply stood in silence, before looking my direction for all but a split second. His eyes were full of rage, but also submission. It was a very odd mix, but it was the only thing his eyes would show. He then swiftly left the room, discarding his test with a forceful toss. His reaction, although nothing solid, was enough to confirm that something was off – Whatever was going on, he wasn't the victim. But if that's the case, then who is?

* * *

I was surprised to see Oreki making direct moves on Ryota, testing him of his honesty. I would honestly applaud him, if I were tone-deaf. Natsuro's suspicious request to speak with Ryota had highly peaked my interest in his case, and was making me question the legitimacy of Ryota's claim and Natsuro's involvement. But again, without anything else to go on, I wouldn't have anything to do with this horribly convoluted drama. As I left the classroom, I noticed Taka Kizawa, leaning up against the window in a daze. He was waiting for someone. Judging by our meeting a few days back, I'd say it wouldn't be a stretch to say it was me. At this current moment, I didn't particularly feel like getting dragged further into a mess I didn't need to have anything to do with (Oreki was already handling things just fine), so I tried to sneak away by blending into a crowd. Kizawa noticed what I was doing immediately, and he waved me over with an overly loud greeting.

"Yo!" I turned to look at him, simply to judge the urgency of this meeting and whether it would be worth my time or not. By his expression, I'd say it was split down the middle. It didn't really end up mattering much what I thought after Kizawa ran up beside me to talk. "I just uh... I guess I wanted to give you an update on things. I might need more advice too."

"We have a designated club time. Meet me then." I retorted sharply.

"I would really appreciate it if we could talk privately about this, like on the side. Not officially club-business." This was beginning to sound like he was assiduously desperate.

"Fine." I agreed, simply because it wouldn't be possible to get out of this situation without a legitimate reason not to.

"Thanks. I think it would be better to go somewhere more private, though." I nodded, and followed him down the stairs.

He stopped behind the gym in the courtyard. I was starting to wonder if he was going to assault me, so I backed up a little and scouted for escape routes just in case.

"This is certainly very private. What do you want to tell me?" I got the ball rolling so we could get it over with quickly.

"I was going to ask what was going on with him after school yesterday, when I caught him talking to Ryota. You know, the kid with the spiky blonde hair? I kept myself hidden, and I overheard them talking about a debt or something. Then Ryota mentioned his big brother, who's a senior at this other preppy high school."

"And he's the senior that Saya is dating." I cut in, knowing the answer already.

"Yeah, exactly."

"What did he say about his brother?" Kizawa shivered at my question; it was likely something he didn't want to disclose, but felt the need to in order to get this whole ordeal sorted out.

"He...he abuses, um, h-his girlfriend. Saya." His voice broke off.

"Why are you telling me this?" Again, I had a fairly good guess why, but I needed to get the confirmation.

"Why do you think? Help me convince Natsuro to call off this whole thing, and of course hammer some sense into Ryota so he can kick his brother's ass!" Kizawa's repression turned to rage after I flicked his switch.

"And what are you expecting of me?" Kizawa looked at me with the intensity of an inferno, but had the expression of a wretch.

"Get you and your club members to confront him. I need to hear the truth."

"It's not that easy. We need actual evidence to confront him with, or else he can just laugh us off."

"You'll promise to talk to him if I get you proof?"

"I guess." I still hadn't talked with Oreki or Chitanda at all about this, and I wasn't particularly planning to originally. At this point, things have gotten so out of joint that I may no longer have a choice in the matter.

"Promise me." He was pretty serious about this. He must really care about preserving his one-sided friendship.

"Fine."


End file.
